Police are examining if Tony Blair's former chief of staff Jonathan Powell potentially perverted the course of justice by advising a republican terror suspect not to return to the UK, a Westminster committee has heard.
A senior Metropolitan Police officer told MPs that the Police Service of Northern Ireland was "scoping" the claim to assess whether a formal criminal investigation should be launched.
Conservative MP Oliver Colvile had contacted police in London and Belfast about the matter after Mr Powell referred to the episode while appearing before the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee last month. While giving evidence to the committee's inquiry into a Government administrative scheme to deal with on-the-run republicans, Mr Powell was asked about his encounters with Rita O'Hare around 14 years ago.
Ms O'Hare, Sinn Fein's US representative, is one of the most high-profile fugitive republicans, having skipped bail to the Irish Republic in 1972 after her arrest in conn-ection with the attempted murder of a soldier.
Mr Powell was quizzed by Mr Colvile on a comment he had made during a meeting with Sinn Fein to the effect that Ms O'Hare should not travel to Belfast as it might result in her arrest.
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